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Search building permits

GET/permit

Parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
municipalitystringoptionalFilter to one city by its slug, e.g. 'new_westminster', 'toronto', 'north_vancouver_city'. Exact match. This is the city filter for BuildData datasets (permits, development permits, planning applications, inspections); call /{entity_type}/coverage for the list of valid slugs. The 'city' param is accepted as an alias here. (For the US liquor/healthcare/tank datasets, 'city' is instead a distinct filter and 'municipality' does not apply.)
qstringoptionalFull-text search across the indexed fields of the record, including names (business, establishment, vendor, contractor) wherever the dataset carries them, e.g. q=brewery or q="Iron Hill". This is the name search: there is no separate name= parameter, and it works on every plan including free. It matches the BUSINESS or trade name, the address, city, county and licence/permit number. It does NOT match an owner, licensee or applicant's personal name: these datasets carry public business records only and never store an individual's name, so searching for a person returns nothing. Space-separated words require all terms (e.g. "wood panel"). Use OR to match any term ("wood OR panel OR acoustic"), quotes for exact phrases ("supply arrangement"), and a leading minus to exclude ("software -hardware").
permit_typestringoptionalFilter by normalized permit type (exact match): new_construction, renovation, addition, demolition, change_of_use, other. Matches the permit_type_canonical field, not the raw per-city permit_type string.
tradestringoptionalFilter trade sub-permits by trade (exact match): electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, sprinkler, sign, trade_other. A trade permit is pulled for work on one system rather than the building, so this is the field for replacement-cycle work: a furnace swap is trade=mechanical, a rewire is trade=electrical. Only cities that publish trade permits separately carry it; combine with permit_type, which every permit has.
statusstringoptionalFilter by status. Contracts/tenders: Active, Expired, Cancelled, Open (exact). Permits: use a status_canonical value instead (issued, in_review, completed, expired, cancelled, unknown).
status_canonicalstringoptionalNormalized permit status: issued, in_review, completed, expired, cancelled, unknown
citystringoptionalFilter by city. For the US liquor/healthcare/storage-tank datasets this is a distinct filter (exact, case-insensitive). For all other datasets it is an alias for municipality.
value_minnumberoptionalMinimum value, applied to the entity's value field (construction_value for permits, contract_value for contracts, agreement_value for grants, monetary_amount for contributions, total_co2e for emissions, assessed_value for assessments). Ignored for entity types with no monetary field.
value_maxnumberoptionalMaximum value; same per-entity field mapping as value_min. Ignored for entity types with no monetary field.
issued_afterstringoptionalFilter by date >= YYYY-MM-DD (issued_date). Aliases: date_from, date_after
issued_beforestringoptionalFilter by date <= YYYY-MM-DD. Aliases: date_to, date_before
latnumberoptionalLatitude for proximity search. Send with lng.
lngnumberoptionalLongitude for proximity search. Send with lat.
radius_kmnumberoptionalRadius in km, 0.1 to 25. Optional: lat and lng with no radius search 1 km around the point. The radius actually applied is returned as radius_km in the response, so a default is never silent. For every record at one street address rather than everything near it, use /property.
sort_bystringoptionalSort field: published (publication_date, tenders only), date (event date; this is award_date for contracts/awards), value (the entity's value field), closing (closing_date for tenders)
sort_orderstringoptionalSort order: asc or desc
limitintegeroptional
offsetintegeroptional
cursorstringoptionalPagination cursor from next_cursor in a previous response. Use instead of offset for deep pagination.

Request

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-host: builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com' \
  --header 'x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY'
import requests

url = "https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit"
headers = {"x-rapidapi-host": "builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com", "x-rapidapi-key": "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY"}
resp = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
print(resp.json())
const res = await fetch("https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit", {
  headers: {
    "x-rapidapi-host": "builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com",
    "x-rapidapi-key": "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY",
  },
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);
<?php
$ch = curl_init("https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "x-rapidapi-host: builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com",
    "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY",
]);
echo curl_exec($ch);
require "net/http"
require "uri"

uri = URI("https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["x-rapidapi-host"] = "builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com"
req["x-rapidapi-key"] = "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY"
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts res.body
package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "net/http"
)

func main() {
    req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit", nil)
    req.Header.Add("x-rapidapi-host", "builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com")
    req.Header.Add("x-rapidapi-key", "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY")
    res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    defer res.Body.Close()
    body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
    fmt.Println(string(body))
}
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com/permit"))
    .header("x-rapidapi-host", "builddata-canadian-construction-data-api.p.rapidapi.com")
    .header("x-rapidapi-key", "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY")
    .build();
HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
    .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(res.body());

Example response

{
  "entity_type": "permit",
  "count": 1,
  "offset": 0,
  "results": [
    {
      "record_id": "24 223023 PLB:00",
      "municipality": "toronto",
      "lat": 43.65401,
      "lng": -79.42376,
      "work": "Building Permit Related(PS)",
      "status": "Permit Issued",
      "address": "865 COLLEGE ST",
      "description": "Plumbing - INTERIOR ALTERNATION OF 3RD FLOOR SUITE",
      "issued_date": "2025-01-29",
      "permit_type": "Plumbing(PS)",
      "application_date": "2024-10-07",
      "construction_value": null
    }
  ]
}

Response fields

One permit record. Measured over 6,000 live records sampled across municipalities. Percentages say how often each field is populated: sources publish different columns, so a field missing from a given record is normal rather than an error.

FieldTypeDescription
addressstringAlways present.
application_datestringPopulated in 53% of sampled records.
area_m2numberPopulated in 11% of sampled records.
building_typestringPopulated in 18% of sampled records.
construction_valuenumberPopulated in 58% of sampled records.
contractorstringPopulated in 15% of sampled records.
contractor_namestringPopulated in 22% of sampled records.
contractor_name_normalizedstringPopulated in 22% of sampled records.
current_usestringPopulated in 13% of sampled records.
descriptionstringPopulated in 50% of sampled records.
dwelling_units_createdstringPopulated in 15% of sampled records.
fetched_atstringWhen Nimbus last ingested this record. Bookkeeping, not source data. Always present.
geocode_failedbooleanPopulated in 67% of sampled records.
issued_datestringPopulated in 95% of sampled records.
latstringPopulated in 75% of sampled records.
lngstringPopulated in 75% of sampled records.
municipalitystringCity slug. Call /{entity_type}/coverage for every slug in this dataset. Always present.
neighborhoodstringPopulated in 17% of sampled records.
neighbourhoodstringPopulated in 29% of sampled records.
normalized_addressstringAddress normalized for joining the same property across datasets. Always present.
normalized_business_namestringBusiness name normalized for joining the same business across datasets. Populated in 24% of sampled records.
opening_soonbooleanPopulated in 99% of sampled records.
permit_numberstringPopulated in 97% of sampled records.
permit_typestringPopulated in 91% of sampled records.
permit_type_canonicalstringPermit type mapped onto a shared vocabulary. This is what the permit_type filter matches. Always present.
postal_codestringPopulated in 24% of sampled records.
provincestringPopulated in 93% of sampled records.
record_idstringStable identifier for this record. Pass it to the /{entity_type}/{record_id} endpoint. Always present.
statusstringPopulated in 90% of sampled records.
status_canonicalstringStatus mapped onto a shared vocabulary. This is what the status_canonical filter matches. Always present.
storeysintegerPopulated in 11% of sampled records.
structure_typestringPopulated in 21% of sampled records.
trade_canonicalstringThe trade a sub-permit covers (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas, sprinkler, sign, trade_other). This is what the trade filter matches. Only cities that publish trade permits separately carry it, so it is absent nationally but present on every permit from those cities. Populated in 2% of sampled records.
wardstringPopulated in 13% of sampled records.
workstringPopulated in 85% of sampled records.
work_typestringPopulated in 16% of sampled records.
74 more fields published by only one or two cities

Present on under 10% of records. Useful when you are working with a specific city, not something to rely on across the dataset.

FieldTypePopulated
actual_usestring2.4%
address_detailsstring0.6%
applicantstring3.3%
applicant_namestring7.6%
application_numberstring3.3%
areainteger0.6%
area_ft2string0.0%
auc_groupstring3.0%
bedroomsinteger0.3%
builderstring0.3%
builder_namestring4.3%
building_categorystring3.3%
building_usestring6.7%
categorystring3.3%
citystring6.7%
communitystring9.8%
completed_datestring1.9%
construction_typestring3.3%
datasetstring3.3%
demolitionboolean3.3%
districtstring3.3%
domainstring3.3%
dwelling_unitsinteger8.5%
dwelling_units_loststring2.6%
dwellings_createdstring1.3%
entered_datestring3.3%
est_const_cost_centsinteger3.3%
existing_gfa_m2string0.0%
existing_unitsinteger0.9%
expiry_datestring6.8%
file_typestring3.3%
floor_area_commercialinteger3.3%
floor_area_industrialinteger3.3%
floor_area_institutionalinteger3.3%
floor_area_residentialinteger3.3%
footprint_areanumber3.3%
former_citystring3.3%
gfanumber0.5%
heightnumber3.3%
inspection_outcomestring0.4%
land_usestring3.1%
land_use_districtstring3.1%
latitudenumber3.3%
legal_descriptionstring3.2%
longitudenumber3.3%
lotsstring6.7%
matriculestring3.0%
most_recent_inspectionstring0.4%
net_new_unitsinteger3.3%
new_floor_area_sqftnumber0.5%
occupancy_typestring3.3%
parent_permit_numberstring0.8%
permit_costnumber1.5%
permit_feenumber3.1%
permit_groupstring3.3%
permit_type_codestring3.3%
permit_type_descriptionstring3.3%
pidstring3.3%
processed_datestring0.0%
proposed_gfastring0.0%
proposed_usestring3.3%
received_datestring3.3%
revisionstring3.3%
second_unitstring0.0%
structurestring0.4%
subdivisionstring3.3%
subjectstring1.2%
total_unitsinteger4.1%
units_createdinteger6.7%
units_lostinteger0.2%
units_net_changeinteger3.3%
work_classstring3.3%
work_scopestring3.3%
zoningstring6.7%

Errors

Every error returns {"detail": "…"}, a sentence naming what was wrong and, where there is one, the fix.

StatusWhen
400The request is understood but cannot be served as asked, e.g. offset above 9500, or cursor combined with sort_by=value. The message names the fix.
403Missing or invalid API key.
404No such endpoint, or no record with that id.
422A parameter is invalid: an unknown city slug, an impossible date, a limit above 500, an unrecognised sort field, or a misspelled parameter name. The message names the parameter and, where there is one, the nearest valid value.
429Rate limit or plan quota exceeded.
500Unexpected server error.
504The query took too long. Narrow it with a municipality or a date range.
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